Metrolink, SanBAG hold groundbreaking for EMF Expansion project

Southern California's Metrolink partnered with the San Bernardino Associated Governments (SanBAG) in its groundbreaking event for the Eastern Maintenance Facility (EMF) Expansion project on Thursday, Oct. 4. SanBAG is the lead agency and funding source for the $13 million project.

The construction effort will expand the storage and service lines at the EMF, located in Colton, Calif., providing capacity for future train services from San Bernardino and Riverside and allowing Metrolink to eliminate the use of the Inland Empire Maintenance Facility, east of the Santa Fe Depot in San Bernardino.

The EMF Expansion is scheduled for completion in mid-2013. Metrolink plans on servicing and maintaining trains, which originate at the San Bernardino and Riverside-Downtown stations, at the EMF once the expansion project is complete.

After the EMF is operational for service and maintenance, SANBAG, supported by Metrolink, will move forward with construction of the Downtown San Bernardino Passenger Rail Project, an extension of the commuter rail from the existing Santa Fe Depot station to a planned multimodal transit center in Downtown San Bernardino.

The EMF opened in 2009 and was designed to allow for improved servicing, cleaning and fueling of trains operating on the San Bernardino and Inland Empire-Orange County lines. During this time, Metrolink has assembled 117 passenger Guardian cars (57 cab cars and 60 coaches). These crash energy management cars are now a part of Metrolink's current fleet, while 20 additional coach cars have been purchased and will undergo final assembly at EMF.

The EMF is also utilized for storage of the Positive Train Control (PTC) test train and various aspects of PTC testing.